Ask: More on It Is All Unfolding Perfectly

Last week I wrote about how this mind has come to an awareness of the self’s life in the world as an effect and not a cause. It is an effect whose cause passed the instant it was caused, so therefore it is over. This means, in essence, that what you see unfolding in the universe of form has really passed. This does not mean, strictly speaking, that what you see passing in time is predestined. What you see is done, therefore, it is not to be done. You are really looking back at an idea that is over (and therefore cannot be changed), not living in a predetermined idea unfolding. However, since you think that you are in time, and that the idea began long ago and will be undone in some indefinite future, you experience it as though it is unfolding now.

The reason this mind used to get stuck on this idea that time is over and what it is seeing is past was that, as a self-starter, it felt so self-directed. The piece that this mind was missing (other than the fact that it is a mind and not a self) was that its personal desires and motivations were part of this unfolding. Its personal desires and motivations were the universe living through the self. So this mind experienced it as though the self was autonomous even though it was not. The self is part of a greater story played out through the self’s story and the stories of every other self.

One of the ways that the personal thought system (ego) twists this awareness that what is unfolding is done is to de-motivate you. If everything is going to unfold as it will unfold and you cannot affect it why do anything? But that is really an upside-down way to look at it. Whatever you end up doing (or not doing) is part of the unfolding. You only have to live naturally, as you have been living. You have all along been a part of the unfolding. The only difference now is that you know it. In the personal thought system you ask, “What do I want? And how do I make it happen?” Instead, you can say, “I want _____ for the self. Is this desire the unfolding universe living through the self or is it just how I’m trying to fill a sense of lack? I will let it unfold naturally. If there is any action to take I will know what to do.” You can sit back and let your intuition guide you. To live in the flow of the unfolding universe is a much more harmonious way to live.

If you still need a sense of purpose for the self, here it is: The self’s life is part of a greater whole. What is its part? A clue is in what is authentic to the self. What has it always wanted? How and where does it feel it is most itself? Perhaps it has always known its part. In any case, however its life unfolds is the self’s purpose. Until you are aware of and living in the flow you will continue to feel self-directed. And that, too, is a part of the unfolding. You do not have to live in a worry that you can do something wrong. You cannot be out of the flow of the universe. You can only be unaware of the flow. Anything that happens is what happened.

So where does free will come into this? The self does not have free will. The self is an expression of a will that is free. That will is the will of what I call the “split-mind” and what A Course in Miracles calls the “Son of God”. In the introduction to ACIM about free will it says, “Free will does not mean that you can establish the curriculum.” This means that you do not get to choose that, in your sense that you are not your true Being (“separated from God”), you need to relearn What is your true Being. It goes on to say, “It (free will) means only that you can elect what you want to take at a given time.” This means that each individual self will play out the correction to the extent that they can. This is experienced as free will, but is in fact not self-determined. It is determined by the whole unfolding story of the undoing of the idea of not-Truth. The will that is free is the Son of God’s will, which, in an instant thought of the opposite-of-God and in that same instant undid the idea of the opposite-of-God by seeing its impossibility. It was free to do both and that is what is played out in the story of time.

But where does personal responsibility come into this? If you feel moved to take responsibility or to not take responsibility all of that is part of the unfolding. If you kill someone and that was meant to be, doesn’t it mean that you are not guilty for that murder? Well, yes, but not because it was “meant to be” but because none of this affects Truth in any way and therefore absolute morality is not real. But social morality is part of the human culture at the level of form. In form there are always consequences (for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction). If you kill someone in a way that is not sanctioned by the world (as in war), then there will be consequences. Even if you “get away with it” and are never found to have commit the murder or are never convicted of the murder you will spend your life running and hiding in some way. All of that is part of the unfolding. If you are moved to take responsibility and learn and grow, that is your part in the unfolding. If you are not moved to take responsibility and learn and grow, that is your part in the unfolding.

You can see how this sets you free to not judge other selves. Whatever they are doing or not doing is their part in the unfolding story of the undoing of the idea of not-Truth. Your part is to attend to your mind, not to the lives of others. Since you are reading this, your part is an overt expression of the undoing.

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Learn about the books The ACIM Mentor Articles, The Plain Language A Course in Miracles, 4 Habits for Inner Peace, and Releasing Guilt for Inner Peace at www.acimmentor.com.